Rank-and-file House Democrats started to air their grievances with leadership about what they think went wrong on Election Day, as the party began its internal reckoning in their first closed-door meeting since last Tuesday’s vote led to the likely loss of their majority.
House Democratic leaders announced a series of three listening sessions over the coming weeks with lawmakers, according to a notice sent to lawmakers obtained by POLITICO.
Democratic leaders are also expected to hold private meetings with lawmakers as they chart their path forward, three people in the room said.
“There will be one each week for the next three weeks,” Caucus chair Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) told reporters about the listening sessions. “An opportunity for us to hear our members is absolutely what we should do.”
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his leadership team delivered what attendees described as a “celebratory” message about Democratic candidates defying the odds. The caucus has its leadership elections scheduled for next week, though no formal challenges are expected.
Other lawmakers who spoke up in their meeting, however, took tougher tones than leadership did, arguing several things went wrong in the lead-up to the Democratic underperformance in key races last week.
Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), who lost a tough reelection bid, spoke about challenges at the House Democratic campaign arm, while Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), who represents a district that swung heavily for Trump, said pollsters were way off, especially with Latino voters. Gonzalez ended by saying he knows his district better than anyone, according to three people in the room. Both members said the DCCC needed to get rid of all of the consultants and pollsters, and Wild said the group needed to bring in new young people.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) spoke to the caucus about the damage the Israel-Hamas war did to their electoral standing, the three people in the room said.
Senior Democrats, meanwhile, urged patience as they sorted through the post-election data.
“When you take a political pounding, become a student, not a victim, and I think it’s too early to have a complete diagnosis. I think at some point we need to have an autopsy,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) said he told his fellow Democrats Wednesday.
